Martin Professional

Martin Professional
Industry Stage and Architectural lighting and effects
Founded Aarhus, Denmark (1987)
Headquarters Aarhus, Denmark
Products Intelligent lights, Fog machines, LED fixtures
Revenue Increase$38 million (Q3 FY12)[1]
Number of employees
 800
Parent Harman International Industries
Website http://www.martin.com
A Martin Mac 250 light, used mainly in smaller theatres.

Martin Professional is a Danish manufacturer and distributor of stage and architectural lighting and effects fixtures. It is owned by Harman International Industries. The company is based in Aarhus, Denmark.

History

The history of Martin began in 1978 when founder Peter Johansen realized how to make a smoke generator from a coffee maker.[2] The company was founded in Aarhus in 1986 and began producing primarily fog machines and a small selection of disco lights in 1987.[3] Its name was acquired through cooperation with a French smoke machine company.[4]

In 1994 the revenue exceeded 100 million Danish kroner and in 1995 the company was listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange raising a net value of 85.5 million Danish kroner.[5] In 1999, Danish industrial firm Schouw & Co. purchased a 60 percent stake in the company. By 2001, Schouw had fully acquired Martin and delisted it from the stock exchange. Martin expanded production in 2002 through a new 11.500 square meter factory in Frederikshavn and a year later the company began outsourcing production to China at a factory in Zhuhai.[3] Martin enjoyed continued growth until 2008 but was hit hard by the financial crisis and reported a loss of more than 200 million Danish kroner in 2009 [6] and had layoffs of 130 employees at their production sites in Frederikshavn.[7]

Continued innovation especially within LED technology has helped the company through the crisis and resulted in several product awards. In 2010 the Confederation of Danish Industries awarded with its annual product price for the MAC 350 Entour LED based automated lighting fixture.[8] The LED technology used in the product was a result of a three-year collaboration with Aalborg University. Furthermore, the MAC Aura luminaire and MAC Viper Profile won the PLASA award for innovation in 2011[9] and 2012 respectively.[10] Martin started moving its production back to Denmark in the first half of 2012 their factory in Frederikshavn with 26 new employees. The move was made possible by a reduced labor demand in Martins new production lines.[11]

Today

Martin has been displayed both a number of major international events such as the 2001 Eurovision song contest in Copenhagen, the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens[6] and at the Beijing 2008 summer olympics where Martin was the main provider of automated lighting with over 1100 luminaries at the opening ceremony.[12] Furthermore, Martin is one of the chief technology companies in the Aarhus area, and has a strategic partnership with Aarhus University School of Engineering.[13]

Products

Early on, Martin specialized in fog effect machines; They produced few lighting fixtures. In 1993, the company started producing the Mach series of live sound products, which were quickly discontinued. By 1997, the company realized its full potential as a leading manufacturer in the emerging market of DMX intelligent stage lighting products with the launch of the MAC 500 and 600.

Martin's most prominent product to date is the MAC 2000 moving head fixture. It is used primarily by large theaters, concert producers and major television networks and production companies.

In addition to moving heads, Martin also manufactures flat mirror and rotating drum-style scanners, strobes, color changers, semi-intelligent effects, LED fixtures, controllers for Intelligent lighting, media servers and a line of smoke machines.[14]

Martin's current product line include the Martin MAC Viper, the LED MAC Quantum series, the LED MAC 101 and MAC Aura and the RUSH DJ range, a successor to the Martin Mania range.

References

  1. ↑ Schouw & Company. "Q3 FY12 Report". Schouw & Co. Website. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  2. ↑ virk.dk, Peter Johansen. "Biography". A danish cooperate history archive. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  3. 1 2 virk.com. "Martin Gruppen A/S". A danish cooperate history archive. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  4. ↑ Martin. "Martin Professional". Company history. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  5. ↑ ing.dk. "Bright Entrepreneur". Engineering trade association news site. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  6. 1 2 elex.dk. "Erhvervslivets leksikon". Danish business lexicon. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  7. ↑ eurofound.europa.eu, Fact Sheet Details. "Company: Martin Professional". European Monitoring Center on Change. Retrieved 18 September 2012.
  8. ↑ di.dk. "Di's product price 2010". Danish business and employers association. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  9. ↑ plasashow.com, Plasa 2012. "2011 PLASA Awards For Innovation Announced". Industry trade show. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  10. ↑ stage-directions.com, Stage directions. "PLASA Announces 2012 PLASA Award for Innovation Winners". Art and Theatere news site. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  11. ↑ hoejteknologifonden. "Martin Professional A/S moves production back to Denmark". The Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  12. ↑ wrd.mydigitalfc.com. "Martin to Light Beijing Summer Olympic Games". Financial news site. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  13. ↑ iha.dk. "School of Engineering Coorporate partnerships". Retrieved 17 September 2012.
  14. ↑ http://investing.businessweek.com, Bloomberg Businessweek. "Company Overview of Martin Professional A/S". Investment directory. Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
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